While restoring my 1955 Ratier L-7 a few years ago,
Craig Vechorik gave my name to an individual that was planning to
purchase a block of motorcycles that included a 1962 Ratier C6S. I was
aware of the model and explained that the company had only produced
slightly over 1000 bikes before ceasing production, while rare, almost
no parts were available to repair it. The guy did buy the motorcycles
and I ended up buying the Ratier. I discovered that the example that he
had was an Export version of the C6S called USA. It was quite rare as
only 3 were produced prior to the company shifting focus to production
of Radar and fire control systems for a Mirage jet.

I became interested in Ratiers after reading an
article in the Jan. 1980 issue of Rider magazine. It was titled “The
BMW that France Built”. It showed a C6S that was owned and ridden in
California. It was the bike that I now owned. Some past owner had the
tank panels chromed, an early toaster.

I drove to Nashville area of Tennessee and picked it
up. The motorcycle had not run for many years and had been brought to
TN from California in the 1980’s. It appeared to have a compression
problem, so I had the bad head reworked and repaired the bad intake
valve. At that point, it ran quite well and I began to drive it as a
touring bike. After driving it well over 3000 miles, the oil slinger
rotated and destroyed one rod. At the time I was on the freeway at
70mph. Boy, do motors ever make noise without oil.

I began to research what was going to be necessary to
make it run again. I hoped that because the motorcycle had its beginning
based on BMW parts I could find replacement parts from old BMW reproduction
pieces. After a year of looking, it appeared that the crankshaft was
similar to the BMW R75 military of WWII. I had a friend in MN tear down the
crankshaft and my wife and I took a trip to Europe in hopes of finding the
pieces at Veterama in Mannheim, Germany. (a large swap meet in October of
each year.) I was unable to find the parts I needed, so we then went to
France. There is a large Ratier/CEMEC club in France and as I belonged to
the club I hoped they could help me. Judy and I toured a bit then met with
an English speaking friend, who referred me to the club president. We
traveled west of Paris and met with him for 3 hours. He couldn’t speak
English and I could not speak French, but we spent 3 hours working with a
common language of “Technical”. With paper and spec sheets, we were able to
communicate. I needed a new connecting rod, two new bearing cages a set of
new bearings and a rod pin. He went to his attic and came back with all new
parts. Then I started on my wish list of never-never find stuff.
The motorcycle was produced with ABS fenders on the front and back. The
front fender was gone and replaced with a sportster fender. He once again
went to his attic and came down with a new old stock fender that had never
been drilled and also the front and rear fender mounting braces. WOW!! Now
I really tried to test him. The motorcycle originally came with crash bars
that had been lost through the several prior owners. Once again he went to
his attic and came down with a set of NOS bars that had not been chromed.
WHAT A GUY!! The club in France has purchased any parts that they can find
for Ratiers and CEMEC’s. They then sell the parts to members at cost.

I returned to the states and had the crank re-assembled
with the new parts. Luckily, I had an exploded view of the entire motor so
I was able to assemble it from the picture. All gaskets had to be made and
I had new head gaskets made from copper. The heads needed new valves and
guides, which were made from modified stainless steel valves from a Harley,
as were the guides. I was able to get a new set of rings from France and
after cleaning the motor parts, I then put everything back together. The
fender and newly chromed crash bars were also put on the bike after getting
the motor running.

The bike now runs better than ever and I plan to use it
later this year. I did take it to the Fall VMCA rally 2008 in Steubenville,
OH. Because of other projects, I haven’t been able to drive it much, but it
is a fun bike to drive.

Thank you to the CEMEC/Ratier Club of France for your
support in making my motorcycle drivable once again.